whispers...

The breeze softly rustled the fallen leaves

as the gate swung soundlessly, granting me entry

The place was strangely alive yet empty.

Every step I took brought me closer

to the sounds whispering in my ear;

the laughter of children mingled with cries of agony

and a thousand tales gushed forth

from the recesses in the broken walls

Voices called out from behind the weathered screen

where once sat the women of the house

gazing surreptitiously at a harried world passing by

while time stayed still in their world.

The smoke from their hookah transformed into webs

that gently reminded me of stories long forgotten

yet preserved in the cobwebs of my mind.

lessons learnt

My poor dead sucker fish taught me a lesson in death. Seeing it lie there, ignored by the rest, mouth wide open, body bent and twisted, I realised something. No matter how much shit you eat just so everyone in your world lives a (relatively) shit- free life, no one ever notices. They only notice how you seem to be growing, and therefore, thriving. In the end, when you are spent, dead from all the shit you have taken, your world still goes on. The others do not die because of the shit you have stopped taking. No sir. They live on, with all that shit. Kinda makes one wonder why the poor thing took all that fishy waste anyway. I hope the poor little sucker rests in peace.

Dear boy

With you, I sang a million secret songs.
To you, I whispered feelings I had never known before.
With you, I have known a joy that could only be love:
A true simple love, purer than dawn.

wings to fly

You give a little bird wings

Teach it to fly

Applaud as it touches the sky-

and when it returns for your embrace,

You put it in a little cage

and tell it to dream, and fly;

it flutters its wings in vain

whilst it watches the world go by

from within the confines of its forlorn little cage.

joy

All I want is to lie in your arms, listening to the rain falling outside our window, and experience joy in the warmth of your smile.